Large Employers Confront Rising Cost of Prescription Drugs

SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass., Nov. 30, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- For large employers everywhere, specialty drugs are the single largest

driver of the alarming increases in healthcare costs. To help organizations grapple with soaring costs, Strategic Benefit Advisors (SBA) has released a white paper "The Specialty Drug Challenge: An Executive Overview," by Michael

Deneen and Kimberly O'Leary.

With an average monthly cost of $3,000, specialty drugs cost 10 times the cost of the average non-specialty drug. Now the fastest-growing segment in the pharmacy industry, specialty drugs are expected to account for approximately 50 percent of total pharmacy spend in 2018, up from approximately one-third just two years earlier, according to CVS Caremark.

The trends related to high-cost specialty drugs are indeed challenging, and, unfortunately, they are likely to continue, according to all indications. No one is immune to the relentless cost increases, driven by escalating prices and an expanding pipeline of high-cost specialty drugs. Therefore, it is incumbent on every large employer to consider the adoption of multiple, data-driven strategies to optimize the various levers available to mitigate costs.

Strategic Benefit Advisors (SBA) is a highly-respected employee benefits consultancy, serving as the trusted and long-standing advisor to many of the nation's preeminent hospitals, colleges and universities, and corporations. The firm was founded in 2002, and acquired in 2015 by Brown & Brown Insurance, the 7th largest insurance intermediary in the world.

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